Listen To Raiden Freeman's New Album 'Deep Farm 2'

"Just get on with the music" declares Raiden Freeman aka Jack Mells on Deep Farm 2, doing exactly that on the Te Whanganui-a-Tara musician / filmmaker's surprise sequel to his 2018 Prison Tapes record. Laid down at a rapid clip during the month of July, the fourteen track opus is intentionally a more upbeat affair than his previous two collections, yet no less reflective, soulful and philosophically razor sharp. Leaning into the artist's evident love for soaring guitar-pop anthems — try and deny the singalong power of 'Smart Boy', 'Stop Messing Me Around' and 'Good Enough' — surprises abound on DF2, leaping from tender piano ballad opener 'Preacher' into Prince / The Time homage 'If You Don't Want Me To' with the poise of an Olympic level gymnast.

Peppered with skit-like voice memos from special guests including Charlie Cryer, Daniel Smith, Dalyan Rangi-Dixon, Orson Welles (?) and Bankrupt Records CEO Asher Lee, Mells' enviable singing skills are the star of the show — rhyming "De Niro" with "Ben Shapiro" when few would dare, and asking "Do you ever feel like Mr Burns?" on 'Never Be Game Over'. Engaging with such on-point themes from "confusion about love... tall poppy syndrome, to the world viewed through autistic eyes, to the moon's gravity and quantum mechanics", you'd be a sucker to miss Raiden Freeman celebrating DF2's release at Whammy Backroom on 9th September, his first Tāmaki Makaurau event in five years (full disclosure: I'm also playing this show). Grip the details and hit play below...

Raiden Freeman, Power Nap, DalyanRD & Mapili
Saturday 9th September - Whammy Backroom
Tickets available HERE via UTR

'Deep Farm 2' is out today on major streaming platforms via Bankrupt Records.